1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of medicine, and more particularly to a method of enhancing the embryonic, fetal, conceptus, infant, and human child development by chelation treatment of the mother to remove toxic substances.
2. Related Art
There are a number of diagnostic methods, treatment regimens and preventative measures that the medical community has encouraged and patients have taken to reduce the occurrences of birth defects, miscarriages, infertility disorders and childhood neurologic dysfunctions. However, even with currently known therapies, there are too many birth defects, miscarriages, infertility disorders and childhood neurologic dysfunctions. As societies moved away from their organic agricultural bases to industrialized manufacturing economies, including the use of chemical pesticides and industrial techniques for farming, the environment in which people live has become less organic and more toxic. Therefore, while industrialized societies greatly improve health care, there are much greater environmental hazards facing people, particularly metal toxins that build up within a person's system. To date, there has not been a comprehensive methodology to diagnose, isolate and remove these metal toxins. Instead, industrialized societies have sought solutions without regard to their environmental toxins.
Birth defects have, in the past, been prevented by the use of folate, by the use of multivitamins, by abstaining from alcohol and harmful drugs, and by avoidance of carotenoids such as vitamin A. Avoidance of carotenotic drugs has also been done. However, birth defects are still too common, with a prevalence of 2 to 4 percent (2%-4%) among live born infants. Most birth defects, approximately 70%, have no known cause.
Miscarriages are also too common with 15% of pregnancies ending in miscarriage, and in the vast majority of cases, no cause is found. Metal toxins can cause birth defects, spontaneous abortion, and/or miscarriage.
Miscarriage is common: as stated previously, approximately 15% of all pregnancies end in miscarriage. Miscarriages can be caused by uterine abnormalities which can be treated with uterine surgery. Miscarriages can be caused by antiphospholipid antibody syndrome, and these have been treated with heparin, aspirin and steroids. Miscarriages can be caused by thrombophilias in which an inherited abnormality of one of the proteins controlling the clotting cascade causes malfunction. Thrombophilias have been treated with anticoagulants such as aspirin and/or heparin. Miscarriage can be caused by diabetes, and treatment of diabetes has reduced the rate of miscarriage. This treatment includes insulin for blood sugar control and metformin for insulin resistance. Miscarriages caused by hypothyroidism can be treated with thyroid replacement.
While it is acknowledged that miscarriages are caused by lead, mercury or other heavy metal toxins, no program has been advanced other than the limited Foresight program. Foresight Great Britain has developed a program for the prevention of birth defects and miscarriage. This program identifies mineral toxicities by means of hair analysis. Metal toxins, when found, are treated with vitamin C, nutrient minerals and multivitamins, and selenium. However, the Foresight program is sub-optimal because it is limited to using hair analysis rather than a provocative chelation or even a blood analysis without a provocative chelation, and it is not expressly directed to quantifying and removing metal toxins using chelation treatments. Accordingly, its recommendations are limited to supplementing the patient's diet with selenium and vitamin C, rather than selecting from a range of chelation treatments that should be considered when toxic metals are identified, particularly including the use of more effective synthetic chelators.
Mental retardation affects approximately 3% of children, and some studies indicate that attention deficit disorder may affect 20%-40% of all children. Mild variants of minimal brain dysfunction, including disorders of auditory and/or visual perception and/or processing, are too common. Minor degrees of abnormal neurologic development can be manifested by behavioral, developmental or other neurologic abnormalities. All told, there is an abundance of childhood neurologic dysfunction which leads to behavioral problems, emotional problems, intellectual problems, lost learning, reduced intelligence and decreased intellectual capacity and job performance.
Diagnosis and treatment of childhood neurologic dysfunction has been largely postnatal and thus too late. Postnatal problems that cause mental deficits include inborn errors of metabolism. These have been diagnosed with urinary amino acids, urinary organic acids, and other biochemical tests postnatally. Chromosomal analysis has enabled the diagnosis of neurologic dysfunctions secondary to chromosomal disorders. Few, if any, treatments are known for chromosomal disorders. No anatomic maldevelopment may be detected by imaging studies of the brain including ultrasound, MRI or CAT scan. Most of these conditions have no known treatment. Genetic syndromes can be identified as a cause of mental retardation by examination and inspection of the affected child, the facial and physical exam findings may suggest one or more genetic syndromes that can be tested for either by DNA methods, by chromosomal methods or by biochemical methods.
Lead poisoning is commonly investigated and detected postnatally by a blood test or occasionally by provocative challenge with a chelation agent. Chelation treatments have long been given to children to remove lead. Chelation agents used on children for removal of lead include DMSA and EDTA. While it is known that lead can accumulate in fetuses antenatally, no program of fetal detoxification has been advocated prenatally because synthetic chelating agents are thought to be teratogenic. However, other work has suggested that studies showing harmful effects of chelators might have been due to a failure in those studies to co-administer mineral supplements to the patient along with the chelators. Thus in those studies the adverse outcomes observed following chelation therapy might have been due to the chelators having leached essential minerals from the patient's body rather than any harmful effects of the chelating chemicals themselves. Nonetheless, chelators have only been given to mothers for severe maternal toxicity but not for fetal benefit. No chelation treatment has ever been done for mothers with lead, mercury, aluminum, or antimony levels that are below what is considered acutely toxic.
Mercury is known to cause cerebral palsy and mental deficits. This was shown from an outbreak of mercury toxicity that occurred in Japan where it has caused Minamata disease. Another outbreak of mercury poisoning occurred in Iraq. Mercury is widely thought to cause autism when injected with vaccinations. For this reason the mercurial preservative thimerosol has been removed from most vaccinations. Additionally, mercury vapor, which may arise from amalgam dental fillings, is known to cross the placenta and affect the fetus. Other than the Foresight program, there is no program to identify and detoxify preconceptional women, pregnant women, or lactating women so that toxins will not accumulate in the baby and affect embryonic, fetal, neonatal or infant development. Additionally, there is no program to identify similar toxins in men and to detoxify these men with chelation therapies prior to impregnating their partners. The standard of care for improving fetal outcome is prenatal diagnosis. In prenatal diagnosis, ultrasound examinations are done on fetuses. In some cases, chromosomal analysis is done. When problems are detected, termination is offered to the mother. This system has limited effectiveness because: 1. many abnormalities are missed, 2. mild abnormalities are missed, 3. abnormalities of neurological function are usually missed, and 4. many mothers refuse termination when it is offered.
The problems with the above-discussed approach of testing women who are already pregnant are as follows: 1) Prevention of mental deficit by prenatal diagnosis and selective abortion cannot be universally applied and is harmful to the fetus: the resultant death to the fetus is objectionable to many, and, therefore, is often refused; 2) Lead, mercury and almost all teratogens have their greatest effect early in development when the embryo/fetus is most vulnerable and susceptible. Treatment early in the development would have a much more profound beneficial effect than treatment later in development.
There are half as many children in the United States today with intelligence quotients (IQs) above 130 than there were in past generations. The effects of heavy metals, herbicides, pesticides, and organic toxins on early brain development last for decades. Regions with higher infant mortality also have higher rates of emphysema seventy (70) years later. The health of the gravid female during pregnancy makes for healthy babies, adolescents, and adults. The removal of heavy metals by therapeutic chelation of the pregnant woman will likely lead to increased IQ's, increased scores on neurological development tests like the Denver Developmental Exam. and higher scores on standardized tests of the offspring years after the treatment of the gravid female has concluded. Higher order mental and neurologic function include but are not limited to those traits which are well known to lead to higher scores on IQ tests, standardized tests, neurologic ability tests and entrance exams for colleges and professional schools.
As discussed above, the Foresight program is insufficient in its diagnostic evaluation of the patient and in its treatment regimen. While this program has some usefulness, it is too limited of a program for diagnosing and treating symptomatic adults. Given the grave threat posed by metal toxins to the fetus, more aggressive treatment may result in enhancement of neurologic development and performance.